Friday, July 08, 2011

our 4th of july week

my husband took the week off work and we packed up the car for an adventure!

we had a two hour drive ahead of us and we were trying to keep the kiddos busy.

my husband was driving and telling the kids the history behind this great holiday.

he had just taught them about the American flag when we passed hundreds of flags in the side of the road and had to stop to check it out.

the kids thought it was very cool and we even purchased an American flag of our own.

where were we headed?

there is only one thing in the world that could make trey this happy...

and that's camping!

(we go to the same camping spot every year, we reserve our spot 6 months in advance, and talk about it often until our trip finally comes around!)

just look at that chocolate fudge cookie covered face!

*can you see his bike in the background? i took this picture right after my husband, trey, and i had been heading down a trail to go salamander hunting. trey lost his footing on the petals off his bike, and from a distance while i am screaming for someone to save him, i saw his little life flash before my eyes. my husband heroically jumped of his bike and ran faster then humanly possible to save trey from what would have been a very big crash.

here he is just after, happy as can be, with nothing but catching salamanders on his mind.

this is his makeshift net that did not fail him in his hunt :o)

trey lives to hunt.

this is just one of the many many critters he caught this week.

this cute little chipmunk kept invading our camp.

after no time at all trey had half of a crawdad trap propped up by a stick with a string attached to it, and a bag of sunflower seeds as bait.

it took him about 10 minutes to catch that chipmunk!

we cooked him up and ate him!

ha, just kidding, what kind of people do you think we are!?

we let the cute little guy go of course.

i think my husband is an excellent fisherman.
everyone he took fishing came back with something to show for it!

my husband and cousin ethan with two nice sized trout!

my husband cleaned those fish, and I rolled the them in some fish fry batter and cooked them in olive oil.

they were a hit!

the lake was full of crawdads!

with fish heads as bait, and an uncle bob who took great care in placing the traps, we caught tons of them.

we boiled these guys up till they turned pink...

and everyone had a taste :o)

i was skeptical of this huge floaty my husband purchased at costco...

but it turned out to be a blast for everyone!

it has a really nice plastic mesh across the bottom that made it safe and fun for the kids.

i was worried how i would do on this camping trip. i am still not 100% at 7 1/2 months pregnant. but i really just had the greatest time, and my husband helped me out so much with packing and keeping the kids busy.

one day i decided i needed to take a little rest in the tent.

lucy found me in there, as well as my camera, and we had a great time taking pictures in the tent.

two years ago when we were camping we did a pirate treasure hunt. we really played it up big time. we had a note from a pirate named "one eyed willy" stuck in the tree by a knife and everything. i thought the kids were all having the time of their lives when i noticed both of my kids were close to tears because it was a little too real for them.

this year i made sure to make it much simpler.

you can see though, the knife mark in the paper because i started to get carried away again but quickly realized what i was doing and corrected myself before we had more tears :o)

i made sure all the clues were simple enough trey could read and they had a great time.

the final clue lead them to the dock where my husband was paddling in the canoe carrying the final treasure.

the kids loved it!

it really is a lot of work packing up the family to go camping. but there is just something about being outside for a whole week...we don't even get cell reception and my husband and i really look forward to that. the kids can run around, get dirty, and do everything a kid loves to do and it makes it just so worth it.

Yay! You have given me hope! We love to go camping but at 22 weeks, and still vomiting with two meds I wasn't sure I would make it at all this summer- now I'm thinking maybe an end of August trip is possible! :) Love hearing your progress, it's very encouraging and I love all the fun you have with your kids through it all! :)

I am a fan of your crafty ideas. I have a question about your Flora Pillow. I looked at your picture tutorial and it looks like you didn't ever sew the fabric into a tube. Is that right? I just iron the edges and then twist it around?

I found your blog while looking for some patterns for ties...circa April 2009!...and think you are Ah-mazing! I love coming to your blog for inspiration. I am oober impressed that you still took your family vacation camping in your state of pregnancy! SUPER MOM!

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About Me

Hello! My name is Tanya, welcome to my blog. If there is one thing I have learned about this life, it's that it is not easy. But, I have also learned that we can have a heck of a fun time along the way. I like
to share some of the things I have learned here.
Come along with me.